Conrad delivers ATB to Vane Bros

The Morgan City, La.-based Conrad Shipyard delivered its third of a new class of articulated tug-barges (ATBs) to Vane Brothers Company of Baltimore, Md. The ATB is made up of the 110-foot tug Wachapreague and 403-foot barge Double Skin 803. The ATB is linked with a Beacon Finland JAK 700 coupling system. The barge is equipped with bow thrusters and thermal heaters for its cargo of asphalt. The ATB has a design draft of 15.4-feet and is powered by two 2,200-hp tier 3 engines. The ATB is the third of a series of like units built for Vane Brothers. The first, the tug Assateague, built at Conrad’s Orange, Texas, facility, is paired with the 80,000-bbl. barge Double Skin 801, which Conrad built in Amelia, La. All three ATB tugs were designed by Castleman Maritime of Panama City, Fla. The second ATB, the tug Chincoteague, is paired with the barge Double Skin 802. (Source: Work Boat 03/26/19) Vane Brothers recently expanded its operations to the Pacific Northwest and California coast. Vane’s current West Coast fleet operations are focused on a ship-bunkering partnership with Marathon Petroleum in Washington’s Puget Sound, and dock-to-dock transfers for Valero Energy in the twin ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach, as well as the Port of Benicia at the head of San Francisco Bay.